A South Carolina based dolphin tagging program is looking for conservation-oriented anglers interested in participating. Spanning the entire region dolphin traverse, anglers from Virginia, down the U.S. East Coast to the Caribbean, and along Florida’s Gulf Coast are all welcome.

Don Hammond, marine biologist for Cooperative Sciences Services, is excited by the progress of their research. “Anglers are reporting catching more 10- to 20- pound fish than they remember in any year in recent times,” he said. “This abundance has translated into a big increase in the number of dolphinfish being tagged for the study.”

This year has surpassed all others, and there are still two months left. The record number of tagged fish came in 2005 with 1,600. This year has already seen 1,899 fish tagged, most of them coming from the Florida Straits, South Florida and The Bahamas. That’s why Hammond is asking for help from fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico and north of South Florida.

“Tagging in these areas is severely lacking,” Hammond said. For more information, contact Don Hammond of Cooperative Science Services. The address is 961 Anchor Road, Charleston, SC 29412. Telephone number is (843) 795-7524. Email is CSSLLC@bellsouth.net. Their Web site is www.dolphintagging.com.